Tuesday, 27 April 2010

I was browsing through an online craft shop when I came across paper being sold for something called "iris folding" which I'd never heard of. You can see a flickr example here. While searching out suppliers in England I also came across another paper craft called quilling aka paper filigree which also looked like something I might enjoy so I searched for a supplier in England. I ordered some gubbins for both crafts (to be delivered) but yesterday I discovered that I can buy quilling supplies from a shop not more than ten minutes walk from my flat.

This little yellow flower is my first effort. I'm quite pleased with it all things considered but I'm going to have to practise to get my shapes more even.

This white flower is my second try. Things I've learnt:.a) dropping your quilled items on the floor is not good because they pick up every miniscule bit of fluff.b) I need to get a board to pin this stuff out on while it dries.c) it's not as easy as it looks but it's very enjoyable and relaxing

Practice does makes perfect. But also remember - a flower isn't exactly the same on every side. Not all petals are the same either. In fact when I made my flowers I tried to have each one a bit different so they looked more realistic. I found that putting was paper down on a sheet of styrofoam was a good place to pin my quilling to while it dried.

Gosh I haven't seen quilling for years. When my son was young he had a go at it and then I took over, spent years picking up pieces of paper off the floor! Still find an odd bit of glued paper in the strangest place in the house! Your first attempt is very good, sadly I gave so many designs away when tatting patterns took over, otherwise you could have had them.

very nice I love quilling I was tempted to pick it back up but tatting kept beckoning me... Another thing you can use for quilling which is what I do, Buy some beautiful colored or printed paper and get a paper shredder that shreds the paper into strips and voila' instant quilling paper. :)I have a few quilling patterns on my website too if your interested. as well as husking that is georgous too.

I've seen a photo on a website where the person was using a sheet of polystyrene/styrofoam but wasn't convinced this would work. I will give it a go now that I've had a personal recommendation and see how I get on.

Talk about co-incidence! I was viewing that very page belonging to Yulia the night before and to say I was impressed would be an understatement. Her work is amazing.

I did purchase a combination guillotine/trimmer but found that it was very poor. The build quality was lacking and it wasn't very accurate meaning the strips came out wonky. I took it back the next day to exchange for a shredder however they only had ones that cut with jagged edges. I'm thinking I'll either keep looking for a trimmer or failing that I'll get a new cutting mat and use a rotary blade and plastic ruler. I used this set up before when I tried my hand at quilting and found it worked really well.

Once upon a time, I wanted to learn quilling so badly but never quite got around to it. As time has gone on, I've learned there are some things I'm perfectly happy with admiring as someone else's work. I will enjoy watching your progress!

The flower is so pretty.I did quilling only once before, a very long time ago. That was because my daughter wanted to try it. So we went to the bookstore and got ourselves a kit on quilling. I don't know where the kit is now, lol. But my daughter managed to make something out of it.